Are You Quick Witted?

A Zen teacher had walked up to two students at separate times and had asked them a single question.

“Have you done the dishes yet?”

The first student whom he asked responded quickly with “teacher you had asked me to sweep the meditation room, dishes were never my responsibility, and I just finished my meditation and have not had time to even sweep yet! Jeremy is a very detailed person who doesn’t miss a beat in his trainings, I know he will do a fantastic job, could you ask him instead?”

“Understandable” replied the teacher.

A few moments later he had walked up to another individual within the room and asked the same question “have you done the dishes yet?”

The second student responded without hesitation “No. I have heard though that many great teachers have become enlightened by finding Zen within washing dishes,” “Ah!” he exclaimed in excitement “I can move my meditation to doing the dishes!”

“No need, you have already achieved it” stated the teacher as he walked away.

Being a quick-witted person can come in various forms, but primarily boils down to opposing aspects of ‘excuses’ or ‘solutions’. In the little story above, amongst many things you could derive from it, the first person responded with a quick response but built off of excuses. They went on the defense and sought for a way out of the task. Whereas the second individual saw the words from the teacher as a statement rather than a question but chose to find some meaning within the statement instead of a demand or an attack against him.

Notice what your first responses are to things that you know you should be doing or what someone else has asked of you. Do you quickly search for a way out or to go on the defensive or do you quickly search for ways to add it to your personal growth and excitement?

How are you quick witted?